Florida State Downs Florida Gulf Coast in ‘Paint it Pink’ Meet

TALLAHASSEE, Florida, October 18. IN the annual ‘Paint it Pink’ meet recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Florida State women’s swimming and diving team racked up 14 victories, including a school record by diver Kelsey Goodman, to continue their unbeaten streak against Florida Gulf Coast.

Florida State Press Release

While participating in its annual `Paint it Pink’ meet, the Florida State women’s swimming and diving team defeated Florida Gulf Coast 189-109 at the Morcom Aquatics Center on Friday. With the win, the Seminoles move to 3-1.

“I thought we were good,” head coach Frank Bradley said. “We’ve been tough with the training this week and I thought the ladies did a good job.”

The Seminoles won 14-of-16 events on the day as six athletes contributed multiple wins.

Senior Kelsey Goodman picked up a pair of wins on the boards, taking 1-meter by a score of 322.20 before posting a mark of 373.05 on 3-meter, breaking the school record. Goodman’s new standard beat out Ariel Rittenhouse’s 2013 ACC Championship score of 369.55.

“It was very exciting,” Goodman said. “I used two new dives today that I’m not very comfortable with, so I figured since I’m competing at my home pool I would try them. I just pretended I was in practice and I was happy with how they came out.”

The Seminoles swept 1-meter and 3-meter as junior Katrina Young placed second in both with scores of 308.70 and 318.00 respectively. Senior Ariel Rittenhouse followed in third with a total of 306.08 on 1-meter before posting a 306.60 on 3-meter.

Florida State kicked off the meet with senior Tiffany Oliver pulling the 200 medley relay team of Ashley Hicks, Sami Pochowski and Chelsea Britt to a win with an overall time of 1:42.62.

Sophomore Madison Jacobi led from start to finish in the 1000 free, touching with a season-best time of 9:53.39.

Moments later, she fought back on the last 50 of the 200 free to take second with a time of 1:51.95, just behind junior Kaitlyn Dressel, who placed first with a mark of 1:51.39.

“That’s a tough double for Madison,” Bradley said. “She was super consistent throughout her races today.”

Pochowski added a pair of season-top times in the breaststroke events, winning the 100 with a time of 1:02.40 before taking the 200 with a time of 2:17.92. The Seminoles swept the 200 breast, as sophomore Morgan Stephenson placed second (2:21.84) and junior Laura Flewelling was third (2:22.74).

“Today was a breakout day for Sami,” Bradley said. “She was close to her career best times and she’s been working hard.”

The 200 fly proved to be another sweep for the Seminoles as senior Julia Henkel led the charge with a time of 2:02.34, finishing ahead Britt (2:04.44) and sophomore Mary Elizabeth King (2:06.62). Henkel added a win in the 200 IM to finish the meet (2:05.98), while Britt won the 100 fly with a time of 56.99.

Oliver swam to a pair of victories in the sprint events as she won the 50 free with a time of 23.09 before breaking the 50-second barrier for the first time this season in the 100 free as she won the race with a time of 49.78. She finished just ahead of Dressel who was second with a time of 50.02.

“Kaitlyn and Tiffany were solid today,” Bradley said. “I thought those two did a great job in the sprint events.”

Jacobi swam her second win on the day in the 500 free, posting a time of 4.53.11.

Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will be back home against NC State and Georgia Tech on Oct. 25 at 4 p.m.

“It’s going to be a tough meet,” Bradley said. “Both of those teams are going to want to come in here and beat us. We’ve got to get through a tough week of training and be able to step up and race on Friday. I’m looking forward to it. I think we are in a great spot and we’re continuing to get better.”

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Florida Gulf Coast Press Release

The FGCU swimming & diving team pick up its first loss of the season Friday afternoon in a rainy dual meet against the Seminoles of Florida State. Having never beaten the Noles, the Eagles racked up a total of four first-place, seven second-place and five third-place finishes, but ultimately suffered a 189–109 defeat.

“I was very proud of how our girls competed today,” head coach Neal Studd said. “We had some very fast swims and big time drops from last week. FSU swam very well for the win, but I am delighted at how my team is improving.”

The meet began with the 200-yard medley relay where Emma Svensson (Uppsala, Sweden/Celsiusskolan), Evita Leter (Paramaribo, Suriname/Doral Academy), Kira Toussaint (Amstelveen, Netherlands/Keizer Karel College) and Sara Hamilton (Stonehaven, Scotland/Mackie Academy) united to finish the race in a season-best 1 minute and 42.97 seconds to take second place.

The first winning race for the Green and Blue was the 100-yard backstroke where Svensson outpaced the competition to post the leading time of 55.48. Closely trailing her was Karen Vilorio (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/Elvel School), finishing in third with a time of 57.27.

Following the trend of the 100-yard event, the Eagles saw another victory in the 200 backstroke as Toussaint glided into first-place by posting a season-high 2:00.89. Immediately following Toussaint’s winning touch was Vilorio in second-place with a 2:03.36. Toussaint’s point-scoring ways continued into the 100-yard butterfly as she placed second with a 57.27.

In the short-course freestyle events, Svensson continued to tally points and record the fastest times this season for FGCU as she placed second in the 50-yard race (23.45) and third in the 100-yard race (51.00).

Distance specialist Lani Cabrera (Barbados/St. Ursala’s Secondary School) continued to lead the Eagles in the lengthy freestyle events as she touched third in the both the 1,000-yard (10:17.90) and 500-yard (4:58.15) races.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, the results stayed consistent with those of the earlier meets this season as Leter once again led the Eagles finishing in a season-best 1:03.84 for second place.

In the final event of the meet, the 200-yard freestyle relay, FGCU took home first, second and third place. The team of Christina Tanninen (Burlington, Ontario/Nelson), Hamilton, Cabrera and Leter led the pack with a time of 1:37.58. Closey behind were Sandra Wilk (Lexington, Ky./Paul Laurence Dunbar HS), Charlie Molenda (Middletown, R.I./Middletown), Devon Robins (London, United Kingdom/The Grey Coat Hospital) and Nina Schiffer (Dortmund, Germany/SG Dortmund) in second place (1:40.41). Combining to take third were Heather Coutts (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny/Houston), Ellen Vann (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview HS), Kellie Roedig (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Abington Senior HS) and McKenzie Cassidy (Lehigh Acres, Fla./Bishop Verot).

Up next the Eagles will travel across the country to Los Angles for a quad meet against UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and Oregon State on Friday, Nov. 1, at 1 p.m.